Only “raw” fish I eat in London is smoked salmon and herrings pickled in vinegar. Our annual visit to Japan is where we get my daughter acquainted with this part of here heritage.
Thankfully, there are PLENTY of other Japanese foods that don’t involve raw fish.
Mind you, chirashi sushi is delicious with smoked salmon as a component part.
If we were in Japan, we’d be eating salmon soboro every day at breakfast time. This is definitely something you can make with frozen salmon. It’s a staple in many Japanese homes and I prepare it in England quite often (although it never lasts more than a couple of days, no matter how much I make). Salmon soboro is perfect for onigiri (rice balls) and makes an ideal ochazuke ingredient - hard to think of anything more typically Japanese than ochazuke.

Thanks for that milk powder chowder recipe (although canned clams may be difficult - canned fish is being rationed heavily in my part of London, that’s if you can even find it)

Nori. All I can tell you is that there are different kinds with one type that disintegrates when wet (which is great for adding to pasta and stirring into dishes) and the other that is sturdier and more robust which is much handier for spam musubi or temaki etc... What I can’t tell you is how to tell them apart without trying it, especially if relying on English packaging or a product information sticker.
There’s also the “Korean” kind (popular in Japan at breakfast time) which has oils and seasonings. These are much more likely to fall apart than not.
All I can say is, check the ingredients. If there is oil listed, or more ingredients than simply nori or laver, I’d assume it would fall apart easily.

This makes a lot of sense. The market downstairs is predominantly Korean. I'll take a careful look when I take my now regularly scheduled daily excursion to restock what bits I need.

The Korean kind of nori (gim) usually has sesame oil and roasted, with smaller flakes so bending it while fresh makes it crack more easily. https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/seri...asted-seaweed/ I've also suspected that the seaweed algae type is also slightly different but perhaps it is the treatment? Wikipedia says they're both red algae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gim_(food)

LOL. I like wasabi in all price ranges (like I do sushi) but do try to avoid the ones with extra dyes. I just usually don't get the water ratio right for powdered wasabi and it becomes a watery green puddle. Might be good for introducing the diluted flavor to kids who like a bit of hot kick?

If using the full sheets, what they usually do is heat the sheet over a flame or electric coil for a little bit before serving. Makes the seaweed more flexible and less prone to cracking. They also sell them in smaller sheets and these are usually the seasoned ones. My favorite kind are the roasted and seasoned seaweed flakes with anchovies and peanuts. I use them in a similar way as furikake.

Examples of the Korean kind if anyone is curious:

• Full-sheet, including ones used for rolls: https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/kim
• Smaller sheets: https://www.hmart.com/88070048028
• Roasted flakes: https://www.hmart.com/880105274172

Am not sure about the Wikipedia page. The way I understand it is that nori sheets harvested from the Ariake Sea will dissolve easily in water - you can make sushi with it but only if you eat it immediately. Taste is excellent so a big favourite with many. Tends to look “blacker” too. Nori sheets farmed from the Seto inland sea keeps its integrity for longer, better for onigirazu. Also looks a bit greener. Speaking generally. There’ll be more to this - how deep it grows, the temperature it was farmed and at what time.
I’ll do an integrity test with some nori we have farmed near Shiogama (close to Sendai), but in a few days - haven’t opened the pack yet, and it’s really my daughter’s, a gift from her aunt.
It’s the nori made with oil that I can imagine breaking apart when using it to hold spam and rice together. Added to an onigiri should be fine. Gradfly’s tip about roasting this kind of oil infused nori sounds like sage advice.


if you ever end up with powder, grate some daikon and introduce a bit of the powder, bit by bit. Won’t get watery that way. My kid hates wasabi, so have just run out of stock - we (the adults) are heavily into Yuzu kousho (green but red when we can get it), wasabi took a back seat long ago!

I have had quality wasabi only at high-end sushi places here in NYC. I don't mind the garden variety dyed horseradish at all though, I just use less and it's pretty tasty.

I have a huge stock of shichimi togarashi, korean red pepper flakes, and hondashi currently. I have been on a quest to make the perfect miso soup. I've added everything from sweet potato to raw garlic to see what fits. My current favorite is dashi, chicken stock, a tiny pat of butter, soy simmered chicken thigh, scallions, and dark brown rice miso. I vary the veggies depending on what's in the root basket.

The korean red pepper has been a constant since I learned about cheese buldak and make it every time we have guests.

Speaking of wasabi and "spicy". What are the Japanese words for the type of nasal burn that wasabi/horseradish brings rather than mouth burning/heat peppers? It's not the same words in Mandarin and most Indian dialects also have different words for flavorful, nasal spicy, vs mouth burn but alas, in English, it's all "spicy"?

Not a word but a phrase:
Hana ni kuru (goes to the nose)

And there is an onomatopoeia - tsu-n, and depending on how long the nasal sensation lingers you lengthen the word.
So tsu——n if it is lingeringly eyewatering.

Tsu-n to kuru (comes like a tsu-n)


An exploration of how to ease the suffering from strong wasabi:

and from that we just learned why wasabi is not used with oily or fatty fish.

I've always thought spicy was just the wrong word to describe mustard, horseradish, or wasabi. I think pungent, hot, sharp are better adjectives - and kick or bite are better nouns to describe the sensation. Recently, I see the word "mouthfeel," gaining currency in culinary discussions. For wasabi, we should be talking about "nose feel."

Diner 1: Do you think this is real wasabi?
Diner 2: Meh. It's got a sharp bite but there's no disguising the caustic nose feel of ersatz wasabi.
Diner 1: Yeah. It tastes like they made it by mashing up leaves with gasoline and ammonia in a pit
Diner 2: Hmm. I'm getting aromas of old leather too.

That sounds more like fermented fish paste with aged vinegar. Something like Hakarl.

Nose feel should be a thing. I think it would useful for describing acidic flavors which seem to reach into my nose with some bite, at times, beyond just tongue tartness. Tsun is similar to Mandarin "ts-ong" which is used to describe the same feeling. Maybe I can appropriate the word into English like umami (which is a personal pet peeve of mine - I find it to be a lazy descriptor and overused buzzword in English).

Nose feel might be the only “taste” you get whilst experiencing the classic COVID-19 absence of sense of smell. Then again, if fat blots it out instantly perhaps it is the sixth taste that we perceive as a feeling.
Haven’t got my head around this yet.

Did lose my sense of taste for months once through Bell’s Palsy, but never did any horseradish or wasabi tests then. Only thing I remember tasting delicious from that time was grapefruit.

Yesterday I sowed two tubs of earth with Mizuna seeds. Am not an avid gardener, but have grown mizuna before. It’s similar in some ways to rocket/arugula but is far less spicy.

Takes about 6 weeks to grow. Lovely raw, but can be lightly cooked, it’s a nice addition to a nabe. Quite resistant to pests compared to other salad plants. If you haven’t considered growing mizuna before, I highly recommend it. Has a mild taste and is very versatile.

Am also freezing some shiso/green perilla seeds and will be trying to germinate these next week. Warning: snails and slugs LOVE young shiso. Don’t leave it outside until it is substantially grown, once it is reasonably robust it should withstand a ravaging by the molluscs, but not whilst it is young and tender.

I've wanted to plant shiso but fear it'd take over the yard as it grows like mint or basil. https://justhungry.com/how-grow-shiso-perilla

In a bit of virtual visit fun, I queued up some of the "homenami" videos Cherry Blossoms Are in Full Bloom, But This Year Let?s Enjoy Them From Home | Spoon & Tamago but can't stop staring at the people. Social distancing people! Social distancing!!! No, not relaxing. So I give you the midnight version. Put it on mute if you like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKOfdZpANuI

And some Dogen coronavirus haikus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC35ibZd1LE

Shiso, once full grown, does have some seriously strong roots that resist removal and can strong-arm it’s way across a plot. I’d suggest keeping it in a pot.
I adore pickled shiso seed Tsukemono and would love to have a go at making it but have never managed to get it to grow to a point where it produces seeds. Not sure if I’m using some sterile hybrid selected for the taste of its leaves or if the season just isn’t long enough. As I said, am not much of a gardener - way more interested in cooking than cultivating.

And thanks for remembering our predilection for night time Sakura viewing ❤️